Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen has already made national fame with his high level play in the NFL, leading the Bills out of irrelevance into perennial contenders.
But Wednesday, the Firebaugh native earned another level of fame as he was named the cover athlete for Madden 24, the annual NFL video game published by EA Sports.
Driving the news: EA Sports selecting Allen as its cover athlete is a “dream come true” for the quarterback, who posted the two covers that bear his image in Twitter.
- Plenty of other football players from the Central Valley have earned national notoriety for their talent and abilities, but none have been selected as a Madden cover athlete.
- The only other athlete to appear on a video game cover with Central Valley ties was former Fresno State basketball player Paul George, who appeared on the cover of NBA 2K17.
The backstory: Allen was born in Firebaugh and attended Reedley College for one year before playing for Wyoming from 2015-2017.
- The Bills drafted Allen with the 7th overall pick in the 2018 NFL Draft. Allen quickly established himself as the starting quarterback, and for the last three seasons he has thrown for over 4,000 yards and 30 touchdowns.
- Allen has led the Bills to the playoffs in each of the last four seasons, but the furthest they have advanced is the AFC title game in 2020, where they lost to the Kansas City Chiefs.
